Emotions
by Kisara Strife
Summary: Oneshot. Her being there would always be enough to lure him down from the Upper Plate. Angeal was gone, but his pride and dreams would always lead the youth back to this church.


**Author's Note;** Hey huns, this is another oneshot that's the result of one of my free classses on school, when I should be studying...but writing is cooler, lol!! Anyways, the short background to this fic is the Crisis Core uctscene of Angeal's death and also of the one in the church where Aerith hugs Zack from behind... It's short, but I thought it turned out pretty okay for the length of it...

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Just being allowed to watch her kneeling over the countless yellow and white blossoms, knowing exactly how to nourish them, and humming a captivatingly innocent tune as she did so…that alone was enough to sate his thirst for that intangible notion known as normality.

This simple old church had become his sort of home over the past number of weeks…or had it been months at this stage? As he thought back, it was then that the youth realized just how boring Gongaga had been when he was growing up…not to mention depressed after the reactor explosion. The only thing had seemed remotely alive about the small village was a certain, hyperactive black-haired boy who was never out of trouble. Almost as though it were a deliberately sharp contrast to his home, Midgar seemed to be a world apart, surrounding him in a bustling blur that never ceased to unsettle his own world.

He'd been a fresh and wired country kid from a backwater, simple little village…and then Angeal had taken an interest in the new recruit…disciplining the boy as best he could, in a way that was close on fatherhood to the youth…but then Angeal had left him alone…it'd been only a matter of hours now since he'd last seen his revered mentor; lying on the dusty ground inside the shell of a ruined house…grey-haired and pale-faced…breathing harrowingly shallow as he handed his family's beloved heirloom to his young apprentice…the hyper child who'd been like a son to him. The sword was accompanied by words that the youth would forever hold in an unbeatably high esteem; _Dreams_…_Pride_…

The enthralling innocent humming was suddenly back again, soothing his aching mind as it rang with haunting flashbacks of Angeal's death by his own hands…those bloodied and now forever-to-be stained crimson hands. As he let the blame wash over him, her sweet humming filled this sanctioned church to it's brim with her presence. From the hectic Upper City, he often escaped to come down here and just revel in being with her. The goosebumps her humming voice raised on him…her soft breath on his skin…her small hand in his…and her gentle lips on his own- it just served in reminding the powerful SOLDIER of the teenage boy he actually was, not the Shinra employee…but the youth from Gongaga who'd found the girlfriend he'd always dreamt of in his sleepy little village; he'd managed to find her in this heaving revolting metropolis and she was the only shred of purity he had left in his life…something that he would treasure forever.

_Dreams_…

_Pride_…

Everything, along with haunting words, seemed to mix and boil within the metaphorical cauldron of his mind…images of fighting monsters, killing mentors…Angeal lying on the ground as the wind blew lightly around them- the humming was back, soothing him once again as she filled up the church with her absent voice, gently moving her delicate fingers along the petals of a blossom…

The sun was suddenly shining brightly through the hole in the roof of the aged and scarred church…the humming had stopped and everything came rushing back to blame the black-haired youth…she was talking now, but he didn't hear her cute, inquisitive voice…he was too busy mourning his mentor, blaming himself for the death of the man who'd been his equivalent of a father within Shinra.

"Zack?"

The voice was curiously sweet, yet fearful as she broke off mid-sentence, turning as her ears were met by the most unfamiliar of noises…emerald eyes widening slightly before narrowing with concern as she saw the most unfamiliar of sights…

He heard her walking up behind him, her boots eerily loud on the aged wooden floorboard, but he was powerless to stop now; the dam had burst…he could do nothing but give way to his blaming emotions as they took control of the teenager. The low, throaty sobs and his heaving shoulder were the only indicators that gave the youth away as he sat on the creaking wooden floor, arms resting on his knees as he cried into the knees of his uniform pants.

Her arms were around his neck from behind, her breath was hot on his skin as she hugged him tighter and let him cry louder…letting him cry as much as he wanted.

Years later, trapped in a glass vial in a deranged scientist's laboratory, it would be these days, with her just being there for him, that Zack Fair would long for the most.

**A/n- Please let me know what you thought huns!! Kas, :-) XxxxxxxxxxX**


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